The Biennale’s Invisible Workers
Self published book, 2026
box ; set of 13 role cards ; 54 p.

📖 KIOSK supported the publication by funding a Dutch and Italian translation of the book.


Ticket controllers paid €3.80 an hour, cultural mediators paid a pittance, security guards working 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, with no lunch break and paid less than €800 a month…

Camille Lemille invites you to meet the people who work behind the scenes of the Biennale: security guards, ticket controllers, cleaning staff, mediators, guides, and many others. Yet, remarkably, very few of them are directly employed by the Venice Biennale. For her self-published book 𝘉𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴, Lemille spent two months listening, asking questions, and joining a discussion group with these workers to explore their experiences of precarious contracts and poor working conditions.

The book gives voice to their experiences through a performative reading drawn from their real-life stories, shedding light on the working conditions behind one of the world’s most prominent art events.

Texts
Camille Lemille, composed from the words of workers at the Venice Biennale 2022

Drawings and layout
Camille Lemille

Translations
French: Camille Lemille
Italian: Francesca Valentini
Dutch: Sara Plantefève-Castryck

Proofreading
French: Simon Delobel
English: Gabriel René Franjou

Printing
Covers: PeterPrinting
Inner pages: Atelier du Toner (Brussels) ; Atelier 100% pur porc
Printed and assembled by: Milan Gillard ; Pascal Leclerc ; Camille Lemille

Paper
Biopuur (covers); Biotop (inner pages)

Typefaces
Arial Rounded MT Bold; Poppins